106 days...Yahoooooooooooo!

Wow! Time is really flying and we have just about 3 months until the big day!Josh has been out in San Diego for work for the past month and I've been slaving away moving my classroom and getting prepared for summer school, so the wedding planning has been really slow...When he gets home next week we have to register and find tuxes that he likes. Before he left we made a small list of things to register for (we really don't need much, but WANT a new living room--Flat screen, tv stand, and a sectional)! We also went to Mr. Tux in the mall to see what they had for brown tuxes. Well, they only had one and Josh didn't like it. He wasn't able to pinpoint why he didn't like it, but it did have a little bit of a pinstripe through it--maybe that was it? Since he's been gone I found a local tux shop and she had a brown tux (with a different pinstripe) in the store and said she can order others (solids) from a catalog. The same day we went to check out tuxes, we went back to Jared to look for a wedding band to match my engagement ring. Surprisingly they do not make a matching wedding band. They had a few bands that we liked, but none of them seem to wrap as tight to it as I want, so we may have to get it custom made. I think we are running out of time on this one though so we'll see...

With much hemming and hawing, we finalized our guest list! We have about 150 people on the list. We aren't super happy with our decisions, but since we both have large families we are unable to invite any cousins or coworkers :( The cousins and coworkers added another 35 people onto our list and we just couldn't do it for size and money. I'm finishing up getting the last few address' for my bridal party, because I know they are planning a SURPRISE shower sometime soon! :)

I met with Josh's aunt last week about flowers and she had some great ideas. Instead of just gerbera daisies, I may have sparkly white roses in my bouquet. The more sparkle the better!

I have finished collecting the picture frames I'm going to use as my centerpieces. I now need to get my polka dotted ribbon and print off lots and lots of pictures. I hope to get them totally put together during the month of July.

The girls dresses should be in soon...here is a sneak peek for you Nikki--




And here is sneak peek at my flower girls dresses:



















I also called Michaels last week and they said they would take back the invitations that I bought back in January as long as I have the receipt. The more I look at them the more I don't really care for them. They are brown and ivory--I want brown and pink!!! I'm fine if I have to go with brown OR pink but I don't like the ivory since I'm not using ivory anywhere in my wedding! So I am on the search for new invitations...if you come across any brown and pink ones let me know!!!

I guess I'll wrap this post up and try to be better with my postings in the coming weeks! Enjoy the summertime and HOPE for no more rain!!!!

Lots of Little Things to Share!

WOW! I haven't written in a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Time! I know Nicki has mentioned it to me more than once, so here is a blog for anybody that is still following us...

Happy Spring!! Although the calendar has said it for a month, this weekend it is finally going to be SPRING here in New Hampshire, which is super exciting because then Fall is not too far away!!! :)

Our bridesmaids dresses have been ordered and should be in by August. Once I get the swatches, we will start looking for tuxes or suits....I'm not sure what Josh has decided on but I did buy each guy a pair of brown socks today, assuming that none of them own brown dress socks!!!

About a month ago I found a flower girl dress that I loved, but it was found at TJ Maxx. Any of you who shop there know how hard it is to find anything in the size you want and better yet, I needed 2 of these dresses. I had originally wanted polka dots, but when I saw this one I fell in love with it and of course the price was right!!! With A LOT of phone calls and an hour drive up to Maine I found my flower girl dresses. Skylar loved trying it on and wore it for about 20 minutes before we had to take it off of her! Sydney tried hers on, walked a little bit, slipped on the pearls on the bottom (hers is a little too big) and was fine with taking it off. I can't wait to see them all dressed up with their little flower purses walking down the aisle!

I have started looking for accessories to go with my dress, and have had some great offers from friends. I currently have 3 veils to look at, a petty coat, and some jewelry. It's great to have such great friends offering their accessories so I don't have to buy something that I'll wear once.

I've been on vacation this past week and my goal was to contact a photographer and do some wedding band shopping. I have successfully met my goal with 2 days left to spare. We have a meeting next week with a woman from Rochester (Gwen Pham) for photography. She is one of the most reasonably priced people I have found and is local too. Lets keep our fingers crossed that all goes well next week!

Today we went to Jared to look for wedding bands and we were not very successful in finding one to match my ring that was purchased there. They said they could custom make one, but then we would be paying A LOT more and what if I don't like it? I'm still up in the air on what to do, but we have some time to play with. Josh had looked at Jared last time we were in and was not eager to purchase any there, so we went to Hannoush to check rings out there. He really wanted Tungsten or Titanium but we have been told by all jewelers that it would get scratched up and wouldn't be able to be polished when this happened. He decided to go with a type of metal we had never heard of called Palladium. Palladium is a white gold that does not show it's scratches as easily, but can also be buffed and sized when needed. They took one out of the case and it fit Josh perfectly, it was meant to be...Who carries a ring sized 13 1/2? They were surprised that they had it there and said if we didn't scoop this one up, we would have to order it and it would be more money....So now we have Josh's ring and I can continue my search for the perfect band or consider having mine custom made....

We are continuing to work on centerpieces...Mom and I have had a few leads but they keep coming to an end...We got a lead today and hopefully it will continue with a "happy end" once we play with it...I was supposed to meet up with Josh's aunt this past month to work on the flowers, but the month has flown by--so hopefully I'll catch up with her next month!

Amidst all the busy wedding stuff, I have some other exciting news...

• I will be teaching 3rd grade in the Fall, this is a much needed change for me so I look forward to the challenge and the work of an awesome team to help me out (I'm slightly nervous about the change with the combination of the wedding, but I'm sure I can get through it)
• Jacelyn Doyle was born this month and she is adorable (I forgot to take pics when I went to visit yesterday). Sorry mom and Josh, holding her did not make me want my own...YET!
  
• I am coaching Tball starting tomorrow morning...4, 5, and 6 year olds running around a field...This could be very interesting!!! We are the light pink team titled, Tim's Kitchen of Farmington, NH...We are going to rock the Tball field!!! :)
  

It's now time to hit the hay to get geared up for our first TBall game....Hopefully I'll post again soon!!!

About 200 days left to go...

Wow! I've been super busy in the last 3 weeks so I have lots to update on! :)

We have rounded out our bridal party with Josh's last two men, one of them being Isaac (Skylar and Sydney's dad). We had Skylar ask her dad if he wanted to be a prince in our wedding ( to go with her whole princess discussion from my earlier post) she was ecstatic when she found out he would be in the wedding too!







I have been joking with all the guys as I see them that they will be wearing a pink tux, dad was especially not too fond of that and Jeremy threatened he is the one giving the speech about us..So I suppose I should rethink the pink tux part!! :) I haven't gotten to tease our final groomsman Lon with it yet, I can only imagine what he will say...



Speaking of tuxes, we finalized our choice of bridesmaids dresses yesterday. It has been a lot of thinking, researching, trying on, hemming, hawing, and people saying "whatever you want" so I finally made the decision!!! I was thinking that I wanted everyone in alternating colors or Kelly in all chocolate and the girls in all pink, but yesterday that choice came pretty quickly when the girls tried on the pink. It totally washed them out. So all 5 girls will be wearing the same color and they all looked stunning in the same style so we are going to go with that. Kelly will be distinguished by wearing a jacket or a wrap, whichever she chooses closer to that day! I think this will look great and they will carry 2 different shades of pink gerbera daisies!

Now on to my dress...Dun dun dun....I found my dress a few weekends ago when the whole clan (7 of us) headed to David's Bridal. We had gone down there in hopes of finding the girls bridesmaids dresses and maybe mine...we walked away with mine and me having a pounding headache. Boy, believe what you hear about these places, they are rude and obnoxious but they do have a ton of dresses to choose from! I tried on about 15 dresses, or shall I say Cynthia ripped 15 dresses up and down over my head knocking my glasses off, pulling my pony tail out.... The girls outside the fitting room were making bets on when I would punch her out or tell her off....I had it narrowed down to 2 dresses after 2 hours and finally chose one!!! I kept my cool until I got to the checkout when they never told me I had to buy a bag but had to bring it to get "pressed" since I wasn't getting alterations. I get to the alteration area and the woman (barely speaking English) is asking for my bag and I'm confused...and boy was it crazy...it ended up I didn't have to get it pressed at that time (which was 7 months before the wedding so that's a good thing) and Mercedes said I can bring it in 2 weeks before the wedding for it to be pressed....I just may find somewhere else that can do it...I think I'm willing to pay a price to not have to deal with David's again!!! My dress is a perfect fit so I do not need alterations and I get to wear the shoes I bought back when we first got engaged!!! It's coming together quicker than I thought it would!!!
I'm not sure if I mentioned before that we have our first choice in a DJ, Tom Pomeroy. We have seen him quite a few times and love him. He called me while we were in Florida to tell me that the date is set!!! Everyone get your dancing shoes on!! :)
Now it's time to pin down a photographer which has been pretty difficult and tackle the centerpieces...
Talk to you all again soon!!

P.S. Nicki I hope you enjoyed this post and I'll try to get some pics of Kathy on here for you! :)

We're BAAAAAAAAAAACK!

So we are back from our fun in the sun and now it's time to get down to business for the wedding.

Before we left for vacation, I asked my final bridemaid Karen to join us in the excitement of our wedding. She accepted and now I have 5 wonderful ladies to help me prepare for the big day.












Josh has asked 3 of his 5 guys and needs to get asking his other 2 THIS WEEK!!!! So we have a best man: Jeremy, and groomsmen Jeff and Dave.


This is Josh and his best man Jeremy. Neither of them will be wearing these outfits!!!

Josh and Jeff jamming out to Sweet Caroline. Jeff will not be wearing the boxing gloves to the wedding either....

Dave and Josh at Dave's wedding. I'm not too sure what Larry was doing in this picture!
















This weekend the ladies and I are heading to David's Bridal (and wherever else we may end up) to search for our dresses. I think it is going to be a blast and I'll bring the camera, though they may not let us take pictures?!

Dress Shopping

Yesterday the ladies and I went dress shopping for most of the day. We started out in Rochester at Andreas, moved on to Victoria Reeds and ended in Concord at A Time to Remember. I tried on tons of dresses at Andreas and they were so very helpful. There were 2 dresses that I did like but nothing that I fell in love with. The first dress was a "typical" wedding gown and the second one was a bright blue prom gown that can be ordered in white. They were very friendly and helpful, but I probably will not go back since I wasn't in love with anything. Also my girls tried a few dresses on that were cute, but I think we'll have an easy time finding dresses for them especially when we go to David's Bridal next month. Kelly's niece MacKenzie came with us and was in love with the purple mermaid tissue paper dress that was in the window and was adamant that I try it on...SO before we left they took it out of the window for me to try!! She was super excited and thinks that I'll be wearing this down the aisle...







After Andreas we headed off to Papa Ginos for a hearty lunch before going to Victoria Reeds. Right when we walked in I got super excited because of the large selection they had. Everyone started pulling dresses off the rack for me to try and within minutes I had about 8 dresses in the fitting room. I did not like any of them at all....Bummer!!! The girls tried on a few dresses here as well, but nothing we were in love with...MacKenzie was starting to get bored so Kelly started trying flower girl dresses on her and letting her pose. She was loving that. The owner was pretty impressed with this and asked MacKenzie if she could take a picture of her and put her on the store's website. She is so adorable!!


Once we left there we figured we'd call it a day...As we got into the car I started talking about a dress I had tried on in Concord back in November that I really loved. It was a bridesmaids dress that I really liked it and could spruce it up with some crystals. Someone (I dont remember who) suggested we go check it out again. So we headed into Concord I was all excited to try the dress on and then fell totally out of love with it...I guess I never loved it in the first place so i'm glad we went back to try it on! The girls reminded me that it was totally different from the style I had been trying on all day. As I was finishing up a girl came out of her dressing room with a prom dress on that I loved. I asked if I could try it on when she was done. The women (who are snobby) were not too keen on my trying it on then they realized that it comes in the wedding line (for $200 more of course) so they said I could try it. I LOVED IT!!! The only issue being that it was teal...so I don't know if I'll like it as much in white?! I am now on the search to find somebody who has it in stock in white so I can try it on!!!

Oh ya, we got a cake maker!! :) Audrey will be making the cake for our wedding the only rule she made is NO SQUARE cake!!! She was in the process of making a square cake (15 cake mixes) to feed about 250 people when she made that rule for me. I guess the corners are really hard to get to look square with the frosting so I told her fine then I want a rectangular cake!! HA! So we now have a cakemaker!!! I have a few cake ideas in mind and I know Audrey will do an awesome job!

Today I found the cutest flower girl baskets and bought them for Sydney and Skylar!! They are actually called flower purses!! I also got some heart shaped scoopers for our candy buffet!! I think things are slowly falling into place!

Josh has picked his 5 groomsmen, though hasn't asked all of them yet!! Since he has chosen 5, that means I get to ask my 5th girl (I've been waiting forever for him to make this decision so I can ask her)!!! YAY!!!! Be on the lookout for my posting about bridesmaid #5 and all the groomsmen's names!!!

We're off to Florida at the end of this week for 8 days and when we get back we'll be on the search for my wedding dress and bridesmaids dresses...I'll keep you all updated!!!

The wedding party is more than half way complete...

So I finally heard from Kathy (from the Farm) on Monday after work! Apparently they do get mail service out there, it's just really slow!!! She was actually hoping to be my groom, but I talked her out of it and she said she'd settle as a bridesmaid....So that was super exciting! Be on the look out for Kathy walking down the aisle with a banana...


My cousin Melissa called from Arizona at about 8:30 on Tuesday night. Apparently I was sound asleep--I saw her calling and said to myself "Melissa's calling" then sent her to voicemail... I felt pretty guilty about it on Wednesday morning when I woke up and realized what I did, but knew she would not want a wake up call at 3am (2 hrs behind us)... So I didn't get her confirmation until Wednesday afternoon. She made me promise that nothing exciting would be going on before May so she could graduate from her Nursing program first...the only thing she may have to do is go get her dress...which I'm sure she can fit in between her internship and all those rotten tests!



Last night we went to get our hair done by Stephanie and ask the girls to be our flower girls. Josh asked Skylar and Sydney if they wanted to be princesses at our wedding. Skylar got really excited and even more so when she was given a princess crown, a wand, and dangling earrings. There was quite a bit of jumping up and down and smiling!!! Of course giving her these wonderful accessories turned into Isaac having to bring her to find her princess dress to wear. The whole time Sydney was walking around with her crown on and carrying her magic wand just talking (babbling) away to us and throwing out the occasional NO when somebody spoke to her.


As the night wore on Josh asked Skylar if I could be a princess too. She thought long and hard about this one and finally said, "Jodi can be the BIG princess and I'll be the LITTLE princess." I I was happy to hear that she would share this label with me... So I believe this will be my label for the next 9 months..."The BIG princess"

Now it's time to get on Josh to get his wedding party going...It's a tough decision for him, but he knows he's gotta make his final decisions!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to a bridal show in Portsmouth with my sister, mom and Josh's mom...I wonder what it's going to be all about....

Yes! Yes!

I have been patiently waiting for my bridesmaids to get their invites to be in my wedding...I wanted to do something different other than just asking each girl to be in my wedding so I handcrafted each invitation with a picture of them in a dress and wrote a poem to each girl. I also decorated cute little notebooks with all the bridesmaids names and phone numbers so they could keep in contact...That was my "BIG SURPRISE" that I've been working on for about 2 weeks and spent most of my snow day putting it all together!!!I was very happy that I didn't spill the beans at work to Carin and bridesmaid #3...It was tough but I got through it!! I was very impressed with how the packages all came together and then it was all a waiting game assuming that 3 of my girls would get theirs on Friday or Saturday and my last one would get hers probably Tues or Weds...

Well I got out of work on Sat around 2:00 and still hadn't heard from anyone...I was starting to get frustrated! I knew the postman said it would take about a day for the local ones and here it had been 2 days...Finally at 8:00 on Saturday night I got my first YES from Carin!! I was ecstatic!!! Yahoooo!!!! I then told her how I kept it all a secret and blah blah blah... We will have a blast planning this together!





Today went by with no calls all day and then as I was sitting down to eat dinner I got my second YES from my sister Kelly!! I gave her the first job (of many)..She needs to start looking for a dress she will feel comfortable wearing-- the only rule was that it has to be pink or brown or a combination of these two colors. Once we find a dress for Kelly, we will make decisions on the bridesmaids dresses!

Bridesmaid #3 called as I got off the phone with Kelly and we talked for about 35 minutes and she didn't mention anything of her package...SO my assumption is that they don't get regular mail delivery out there on the farm...Or she didn't check her mail for the past 2 days...If I don't hear from her tomorrow I will start thinking that the goats may have gotten the mail and chewed it up...good thing I took pictures for proof!!!

Bridesmaid #4 lives quite a distance away and will not be getting her invite for a few days...I'll keep you all up to date... There may also be a bridesmaid #5 and bridesmaid #6 in the works....Josh and I have some more discussing to do!

Hopefully once Josh gets home from Florida (rough life, huh?) we will have time to go ask our flower girls to partake in this exciting event!!! Instead of making them a card we bought them princess tiaras and fairy wands to ask them the important question!

I LOVE productive snow days!!!

Ya know, I love snow days...Lots of people complain that it's another day added on at the end of the school year, but I truly don't mind! I teach all summer anyways...So as long as it doesn't take away from my Summer school pay then I'm all set. I had a list of things that I wanted to accomplish today...the list had been growing since this weekend when I heard the amount of snow we would be getting...I think I've fulfilled the whole list...

I started my day off with some pop tarts and a glass of orange juice all while watching Good Morning America. Boy I wish I could have one of these days every week... I threw a load of laundry in (1 of 6 that were finished by the end of the afternoon) and pulled out my SECRET PROJECT that nobody knows about! I thought this would take about an hour...well little did I know it has taken me about 10 hours total from beginning to end. I worked on this SECRET PROJECT from 9 til about 1:30..but the mission is accomplished and it came out better than I thought it would. I will even post pictures of this SECRET by the end of the weekend for all to see!! Then it won't be a SECRET anymore! By the way, I can't believe I've kept a secret...I'm horrible at keeping exciting things in!!!

I called travelocity ready to put up a huge stink because they changed our flight times by 3 hours...but the guy was very accomodating and got me a better flight not only to head to Florida but a better return flight too (I wasn't even asking for a change in return)! I got off the phone pretty happy with him and continued to complete my list...

I made some brownie cookies (don't ask..it was one of those mixes you get at Christmas time) and a coffee crumb cake--both of which are not for me to eat, but of course I did manage to lick the whisk...I am bringing them to school for a bake sale that is happening this weekend for a co-worker of mine. Her brother has been in the hospital for a month and they are doing a benefit this weekend...

Lon came to plow so I went out and cleaned my car and the steps off while getting pelted by sleet...That wasn't fun, but of course it had to get done...I may even drive down to Dover to clean Josh's truck off sometime before he comes home on Monday...I've got plenty of time to think about that one though...

I then decided it was time to Wii again for the first time since Sunday. I have been pretty regularly working on my Wii Fit since I have not been attending the gym. Sunday I accidently hit the plus button when I got ready to do my 10 jackknifes and I was programmed in for 30...I skipped right over the 20 somehow...and of course once it started I didn't want to get yelled at by the trainer or get a bad score so I did all 30...boy was I paying for it on Monday and Tuesday.. Since I was feeling back to normal I decided it was time to Wii again tonight...and I carefully chose to increase my jackknifes to 20...Hope I'm feeling OK tomorrow!!!

Now, It's time to go bring the 6 loads of laundry upstairs (nope not putting it away...) watch American Idol and get a great nights rest to welcome my wonderful cherubs into the classroom...Maybe this snow day will a. have gotten them outside to play for the first time in 3 days and b. taught them to come in and listen-- instead of talking...We'll see how that goes...

Good Night...

"The Hidden Jewel"

I was on the phone with my friend Tarsha the other day and trying to fill her in on all the exciting wedding news when she said I should start blogging--So, this is a way I can keep connected with my friends and family and I won't have to repeat all my stories 5 times a day!! So here I am...

I lead a pretty boring life but it's getting to be more exciting lately since I've started planning our wedding...

So far we have the date of October 11, 2009 (YAHOO!!! Not 2010). We chose this date because we both love the cool weather, the colors of Fall, and it's also a 3 day weekend (for all of us teachers). The location is at the Dell-Lea Country Club in Chichester, NH (right past Pittsfield). Nope, there is no website or pictures online...You'll have to wait until the BIG day to see "The Hidden Jewel"!

The visit to Del-Lea...
I had my friends Carin and Kathy head over with me one afternoon after school. I was trying not to get my hopes too high because I had already called about 25 places and visited 5 and hadn't found the perfect place.

I fell in love with it as I drove up the driveway. As we walked in, I knew it was the place I wanted to have my wedding. It's very rustic, "homey", and spacious enough for the large wedding we hope to have. Katrina answered every question I had about the place, including the fact that I can have my CANDY BUFFET!!! She showed us the backyard where we would get married. It was covered high in snow, but she pointed to a gazebo in the distance and an area where there is a waterfall come spring time!!! I can't wait to see it all decorated up this Fall!!

I dragged my mom and Josh over a few days later, they were both impressed and here we are with a venue and a set wedding date!! I'm so excited!!!!

Well, Those are the only details being revealed as of now...the bridal party is in the making and I may start dress shopping soon *YAY*!! I'll keep you all posted!!!